364 



COMMON QUAIL* 



times found so exhausted, that for a few of the 

 first days they may be caught with the hand : but 

 in no country are they so abundant as in the 

 Crimea and in some of the Grecian islands, several 

 of which have received their names from this cir- 

 cumstance. 



During peace great quantities of these birds are 

 imported into this country from France for the 

 use of the table, all of which are males, and are 

 caught by imitating the cry of the hen. They 

 are conveyed by stage coaches, in a large square 

 box, divided into five or six compartments, one 

 above another, just high enough to admit the 

 Quails to stand upright, and each box containing 

 about one hundred birds. These boxes have wire 

 on the fore-part, and each partition is furnished 

 with a small trough for food. May is the usual 

 " period of importation. 



The females lay from eight to a dozen eggs,* 

 of a yellowish colour, blotched and spotted with 

 dusky, but subject to great variety in the ground 

 colour and disposition of the spots: the young 

 are hatched in about three weeks, and follow 

 the mother but a very short time. Quails are 

 very indolent birds ; they usually sleep through 

 the day, concealed among the tallest grass, lying 

 on their sides, with their legs extended, in the 

 same spot, even for hours together, and should a 

 dog approach, he must absolutely run upon them 



* Latham mentions having seen twenty eggs taken out of 

 one nest. 



